Kiwi Businesses Power Ahead With Clean Transport

Thursday, 15 June 2023, 10:32 am
Press Release: ANZ Bank

There’s been huge growth in the popularity of electric vehicles in recent years – with a half of all new passenger vehicles sold being either hybrid or full electric.

Businesses too are now realising the advantages of clean transport options, and this is driving huge change.

“Customers are increasingly coming to us for support and guidance, asking us what they can do, and how they can invest to future proof their businesses,” Lorraine Mapu, ANZ Managing Director for Business said.

“We’ve seen the growing popularity of electric vehicles and businesses are asking how we can support them shift to cleaner transport options.”

In response, ANZ has expanded the scope of its Business Green Loan. This means business customers can now use the loan to replace their fossil-fuelled fleet with electric vehicles[1].

It can also be used to cover the installation of new charging points or infrastructure to support environmentally friendly transportation.

“An important part of our role as a bank is to support the shift to more sustainable practices by removing some of the cost barrier businesses face,” Ms Mapu said.

“Investing in clean transportation can help reduce emissions and increase efficiency.

“Expanding our Business Green Loan to include electric vehicles and clean transport options is one important way we can help.”

ANZ’s Business Green Loan allows eligible customers to borrow up to $3 million at a special floating rate which can be used for investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable land and water use, and the building, renovating, or purchasing of green buildings and clean transport.

Businesses that have already invested in these types of improvements can re-finance their existing loans if they meet eligibility criteria.

“We’ve already supported the replacement of business fleet cars with EVs and on-farm vehicles, including an EV ute,” Ms Mapu said.

“Farmers who have taken up the loan, have told us that the special rate meant that it made good sense from a business standpoint, and this helped justify their decision to make a change.”

“The loan can also cover the replacement of commercial vehicles and we have with one customer looking to replace a fleet of 10 forklift trucks with electric alternatives.”

ANZ’s Business Green Loan is linked to the Loan Market Association’s Green Loan Principles and independently reviewed for alignment to the Principles.[2]

The loan can be used for:

• Clean transportation - replacing fossil-fuelled vehicles with eligible ‘clean’ alternatives, including the installation of new charging points or infrastructure to support environmentally friendly transportation.
• Energy efficiency – purchase and installation of eligible energy efficiency products in commercial buildings or industrial energy replacement projects. This includes heat pumps, biomass boilers, double glazing, insulation, air conditioning and lighting;
• Renewable energy – solar installations;
• Green buildings – building, renovating or purchasing a commercial building that meets certain New Zealand Green Building Council or NABERSNZ performance ratings;
• Sustainable land use – planting projects that improve environmental outcomes through afforestation, reforestation and/or preservation of natural landscape;[3]
• Sustainable water and wastewater – installation of products that improve water quality, wastewater and effluent treatment. This includes fencing, bridges or culverts for stock exclusion, feed pads and effluent ponds.

For more information on the ANZ Business Green Loan and eligibility criteria go to our website.

[1] Hybrid electric vehicles that emit greater than 56g CO2e/km are excluded.

2 ANZ’s Green Business Loan is linked to the Green Loan Principles. EY provided limited assurance of this product framework against the requirements of the Loan Market Association’s Green Loan Principles (Feb 2023).

3 Planting projects which change a property’s land use by more than 15 per cent, measured by effective area, are excluded. Afforestation using permanent exotics that are not intended for harvest at maturity are excluded.

Poultry in motion: Tirau chicken farmer goes electric

When the first fully electric farm ute hit the New Zealand market last year, Tirau chicken farmer Jeff Collings was interested - and once he’d run the numbers, he was convinced.

“Recently, as the price of solar has dropped and the price of EVs has also dropped, it really has made it a no-brainer,” Jeff said.

He already owned two electric vehicles – a Tesla Model 3 for road trips, as well as a Nissan Leaf which he used around his mostly-flat farm, instead of a quadbike.

Eager to park up his old diesel ute once and for all, Jeff jumped at the chance to buy a Chinese-made LVD EV T60 as soon as he could.

Seeing the savings his parents decided to purchase their first EV, a Kia Niro.

Jeff said the cost savings were immediate.

“We were burning through about $9000 worth of fuel a year, and that's dropped to absolutely zero with the EVs,” he said.

“It's not many years to pay back the cost of an EV at that rate.”

In an effort to decarbonise his 130,000-bird farm, Jeff had already installed dozens of solar panels on the roof of his chicken sheds.

His 60-kilowatt system was already providing heating or cooling in the sheds during the day – but Jeff wanted to take his electrification efforts further.

“We have tried to decarbonise as many of the combustion engines as possible, and we’ve replaced petrol blowers with electric blowers, and got electric mowers - it's all working out really well.”

The farm was able to take out an ANZ Business Green Loan to buy the EV T60, something Jeff said had helped convince his business partners - his parents Trevor and Francie and wife Heather.

“The green loan’s special rate made it a sensible business decision,” he said.

“Add in the [clean car] rebate from the government and it just made good business sense - we found we could easily afford the next step."

With clear financial reasons for going electric, and an increasing number of EV options, Jeff says there’s no reason others in the poultry industry – or the wider farming community - can’t also consider making the change.

“I like to think that all I'm doing is basically showing that it is possible,” Jeff said.

“Not only that, but also that it's economically viable - it saves money - and it's just a better way to do things.”

His long-term plans include trying to further decarbonise the farm, ultimately having all the heating and cooling of the chicken sheds done via solar and heat pumps.

More investment will be required, but for Jeff, the ultimate goal is to try to make the farm, and his chicken rearing operation, as close to carbon zero as possible.

“If I had a little badge on my shoulder - the clean green carbon zero badge - I'd be more than happy with that - I'd wear it with pride,” he said.

© Scoop Media

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